Trump trotted out the President of Romania today for a show at the White House Rose Garden. Most of the press coverage has been about Trump’s comments about James Comey, tapes, and his supposed willingness to testify under oath about all the stuff swirling around him.

The Romanian President, Klaus Iohannis, was here to talk about stronger ties with Washington and how Romania was really working hard to up its spending for defense, a big thing on Trump’s mind when it comes to NATO members.

From Foreign Policy:

The Romanian President Is in D.C. to Talk Defense, But…

By Emily Tamkin June 7, 2017SNIP“Security and defense represent a key component of the U.S.-Romanian strategic partnership,” Iohannis said at a Wednesday event at the Heritage Foundation. “As a dependable ally, Romania is doing its share. This year, we have fulfilled our objective,” spending 2 percent of GDP on defense — the first, Iohannis said, to do so, noting it was at the top of his presidential agenda.

“The visit of the Romanian president in Washington is here to underline the importance of our defense and military ties and reinforce our cooperation also in terms of trade,” Victor Negrescu, a Romanian member of European Parliament told Foreign Policy. Negrescu pointed to increased Romanian defense spending, support for the installment of an anti-ballistic missile system, and the establishment of a “pro-U.S. caucus” in Romanian parliament.

MORE

But who is behind this “pro-U.S. caucus? Well, there is a power behind this throne. The President of the parliament’s chamber of deputies is one Liviu Dragnea, who is considered to be the guy with the real power. He organized the “pro-U.S. caucus.” Iohannis is the head of the ruling party, but is not the prime minister. Why? Because, as the Foreign Policy article explains, Iohannis ” would not approve a government with Dragnea at the helm, because Dragnea was convicted for his role in rigging a 2012 referendum. ”

Gee, whiz! And isn’t it interesting that, according to Foreign Policy, ” Dragnea met with Michael Flynn, Trump’s first national security advisor, shortly before Trump was sworn in as president (and a few weeks before Flynn was fired in disgrace.) Dragnea is also thought to be a force behind the proposed legislation that would let politicians charged with corruption — as Dragnea himself is — off the proverbial hook; that legislation was withdrawn after thousands took to the streets of Bucharest.

Back in February, you might recall that hundreds of thousands of Romania citizens protested for in the streets for 6 nights. The Guardian reported

After six nights on the streets, Romanian protesters appear to have won after the government scrapped corruption legislation that ignited the country’s largest demonstrations since the fall of communism. But those who responded to a Guardian callout say it is not enough, and are demanding that the government step down.

“They are profoundly corrupt. Their first priority after taking office is to alter the most important work that has been done in Romania in the past 28 years: the anti-corruption fight,” says Andrei, a 28-year-old air traffic controller, who protested in Bucharest. “Nobody wants a reversal to the period of the early noughties where there was no consequences for organised fraud.”

Half a million Romanians took to the streets after the government put through a decree to decriminalise corruption involving sums of less than 200,000 lei (£38,000). The prime minister, Sorin Grindeanu, of the Social Democratic party (PSD) and who has been in office for less than a month, repealed the order on Sunday.

SNIP

An immediate beneficiary of the decree would have been the PSD leader, Liviu Dragnea, who faces charges of defrauding the state of €24,000 (£20,000). Dragnea has said he has not ruled himself out as a future leader, but under current law is not allowed to be appointed prime minister because of his conviction.

MORE

Dragnea was among those depicted as effigies during the protest:

At the time, President Iohannis made pronouncements against this legislation, so Trump may not look on this stance favorably. However, Trump would be OK with the fact that back in December 2016, he rejected a Muslim woman for the position of Prime Minister.

Romania’s president has rejected a proposal by the leftist party that won elections this month to appoint the country’s first female and first Muslim prime minister.

Klaus Iohannis gave no reasons for rejecting the nomination of Sevil Shhaideh, put forward by the Social Democrats (PSD), but there was speculation that it may have been due to her Syrian husband’s background.

“I have properly analysed the arguments for and against and I have decided not to accept this proposal,” the president said in a televised statement. “I call on the PSD coalition to make another proposal.”

The PSD won 45% of the vote on 11 December. Its leader, Liviu Dragnea, withdrew his own bid to become prime minister because he is serving a two-year suspended sentence for fraud in a previous election.

MORE

Of course, only a couple of months ago, the man who did became prime minister, Grindeanu, tried to water down the anti-corruption laws.

So Liviu Dragnea is doing fine behind the scenes…and he hasn’t ruled himself as being Romania’s leader in the future, despite his corruption…stay tuned.